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EVALUATION

AND
PROJECTIONS
Half Time Appraisal of Jan-June, to have a better July-Dec

SAM. O SALAU
SAM. O. SALAU

MID-YEAR
EVALUATION
AND
PROJECTIONS
Half Time Appraisal of Jan-June, to have a better July-Dec
Mid-Year Evaluation & Projections

II
SAM. O. SALAU

MID-YEAR
EVALUATION
AND
PROJECTIONS

SAM. O SALAU
III
5
Mid-Year Evaluation & Projections

Copyright © 2023 by SAM. O. SALAU


Mid-Year Evaluation & Projections
by SAM. O. SALAU

Contact The Author


Sam O Salau
Foursquare Gospel Church
St. Finbarrs Road, Akoka
Yaba, Lagos, Nigeria
Email: SamoSalau@yahoo.com
Website: www.SamoSalau.coom.ng
Telephone: 08094814575
Twitter: @SamoSalau
Facebook: @SamoSalau
Instagram: @SamoSalau

+234-813-529-1769, +234-809-481-4575

IV
SAM. O. SALAU

DEDICATION

T his book is dedicated to all those who


have put in their best in the first half of
the year to deliver whatever performance
level they have been able to, either applaudable or
lamentable, if they have really put in their very
unreserved best.

You have tried your best, and so I celebrate you!

This book is dedicated to you!

I hope it will help you!

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Mid-Year Evaluation & Projections

FOREWORD

T he popular nursery rhyme and proverb


that “If wishes were horses, beggars
would ride” seems to best describe how
some people approach and lead their lives. No
wonder, such people grow in age, year after year,
with many goals unaccomplished, and are carried
over from one year to another succeeding year, at
the best.

Many are very comfortable with the monthly


greetings of “Happy New Month” coming from
friends and folks, to which they also happily do
respond to by saying “I receive” without taking
responsibility that will make the month to truly
end on a happy note. Imagine the irony of being
wished Happy New Month for each of the 12
months of a year, and the year still ends on a
disappointing and frustrating note, with nothing
worthwhile achieved. The problem is not that the
wishes and positive enthusiasm about the year are
not genuine, but success takes more than wishes,
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SAM. O. SALAU

there is need for taking responsibility.

Talking about responsibility, the author, Sam O


Salau, did a very good job of presenting the real
meaning of the word, which is two words
cojoined, i.e. Response + Ability =
Responsibility. He emphasized the fact that man
has been given special ability by God Almighty,
such as not given to all other living beings, and he
(man) is expected to respond by utilising the
ability to make his life progressively successful,
pondering on each day and making decisions to
make the subsequent day better, more resultful
and more worthwhile. The Author explained this
as “Numbering your days” and followed by
“Applying your heart to Wisdom”.

The way and manner in which the author


presented the central themes of the book:
“Numbering Our Days” and “Applying Our
Heart to Wisdom” establishing the link between
the two nuggets and the fact that success is not
guaranteed if one engages in the 1st and neglects
the 2nd, really made me fall in love with the book.
Like every other great book from the author, this
is a book you will start to read, and you will not
want to drop until you finish reading the last page.
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Mid-Year Evaluation & Projections

The insights shared in the book are very easy to


understand, comprehend and practicable. The
lessons are easily relatable and teachable to
others.

Quoting the author while warning against falling


into the trap of having wasted years, he stressed
that “a man who cannot plan his 24 hours will
not be able to plan his 365 days and will waste
the whole of the year without knowing.” He
opined that to have a better year, it depends on the
value you placed on each day and how you
managed it.

Another great insight that the author presented all


through the book is that life is usually presented
to us in a whole, made up of two halves. At any
particular time that a man realises that he has not
taken good advantage of the 1st half, after critical
examination of his activities, decisions, and
overall approach to it, he still has an opportunity
to apply the wisdom learnt from the failure of the
1st half to change the story of the 2nd half.

As a lover of football, I have watched some


football matches where a team has performed
woefully and is trailing the opponent team, only
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SAM. O. SALAU

for the loosing time to come stronger after the


half time, turn around the situation, and end the
game as the winner. That is the power of
numbering one's days and applying one's heart to
wisdom.

This book from Sam O. Salau is very timely and


apt for this season - the half year, as it teaches and
encourages its readers to review the first half of
the year (1st Six Months of the Year) in line with
the goals set up for the years when we shouted
“Happy New Year”, and based on the sincere
evaluation done, to take steps that will make the
second half of the year better, or best as the case
might be.

I join the author to say that it is not too late for you
if you have not made the best of the 1st half of your
year (or life), provided you can make the
remaining half of your year (or life) count for
better. This is only achievable if you apply your
heart to wisdom.

The author, Sam. O. Salau, has been one of the


consistent voices in encouraging Youths, Young
Adults and Adults in being the best they can be by
unleashing the God's given potentials in them,
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Mid-Year Evaluation & Projections

and this book, Mid-Year Evaluation And


Projections is another masterpiece of 'wisdom
for living' for those who want to maximize their
potentials. It is definitely a must read.

Adekunle Akinbowale
Maxwell Leadership Certified Team
Member

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SAM. O. SALAU

INTRODUCTION

A
t the beginning of every year, most
people always are optimistic about the
year. They have high hopes and they
excitedly write out new year goals, wishes and
aspirations. They have great visions and dreams.

As at today, half of the year is already gone. It is


time to evaluate how far we have gone, in line
with our written goals and aspirations, to know
whether we have fared well or not, and to make
new projections for the remaining half of the
year!

As you open the first page of this book, please ask


yourself: Where are my goals?

This book is written to help you search out those


goals written at the beginning of this year,
especially those that you have forgotten, and to
help you re-polish them, concentrate on them,
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Mid-Year Evaluation & Projections

and channel the required energy needed to ensure


that, although six months are gone, they are still
fulfilled before the end of this year, which was
your initial dream.

The book is designed to help people become


better, and for this purpose, it is not to be sold. It is
distributed free, and I seriously hope it gets to the
hand of the people who really needs it.

If while reading this book, you come across


something you have been willing to tell someone
but do not know how to say it to them, this book
makes it easy for you. Just send them a copy.

I will be the happiest man on earth, if at least one


person, finds this book useful enough to the
course of his aspirations in the remaining days of
the year.

God bless you!


Sam O Salau

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SAM. O. SALAU

CONTENTS

Foreword
Introduction

Chapter 1
NUMBER YOUR DAYS

Chapter 2
APPLY YOUR HEART TO WISDOM

Chapter 3
INFLUENCING YOUR TOMORROW
FROM TODAY

Chapter 4
ARM TWISTING GOD

Chapter 5
MID – YEAR EVALUATION

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Mid-Year Evaluation & Projections

PART TWO
EVALUATE YOURSELF

Chapter 6
ITEMIZE YOUR PROPOSED
EXPECTATIONS

Chapter 7
LIST YOUR TOP ACHIEVEMENTS

Chapter 8
ACHIEVEMENTS AGAINST
EXPECTATIONS

Chapter 9
WHAT NEEDS IMPROVEMENT?

Chapter 10
REASONS FOR FAILURE

Chapter 11
REASONS OR EXCUSES

Chapter 12
INCONSISTENCY

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SAM. O. SALAU

Chapter 13
NONCHALANCE

Chapter 14
OVER-DEPENDENCY ON GOD

Chapter 15
A COMMITMENT TO AMENDMENT

Chapter 16
A NEW PLAN OF ACTION

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Mid-Year Evaluation & Projections

Chapter 1

NUMBER
YOUR DAYS

So, teach us to number our days, that we may


apply our hearts unto wisdom. Psalms 90:12

A
mong all the living things that God
created, man is the only creation that
God endowed with the ability to
number his days. Other living things do not have
the ability to number their days.

An animal does not know if it is morning,


afternoon or night. It is when it realizes that the
cloud is dark, and everyone has gone to bed, that
he senses that it is also time for him to go to bed.

An animal does not know if this is the beginning


of a week or it is TGIF, a major acronym that this
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SAM. O. SALAU

generation uses to recognize weekends, a time


that is identified with relaxations and enjoyment
(Thank God It is Friday). An animal does not
differentiate the beginning of the month or the
end of the month; it makes no difference to the
animal because it cannot number its days.

Due to the ability to number our days, humans


celebrate birthdays. However, the animal does
not even know if it is their birthday or not. My
children's favorite pet at home is a Lhasa Apso, a
very hairy breed of the parlor dog family. My
wife does all the needed day-numbering for the
dog than anyone in the house.

From time to time, she keeps track of the dog's


age. One day, she would announce to everyone at
home that Cece, (the name given to the dog) is
one year old today. At another time, she would
announce, today is Cece's birthday, it is 3years
old today, let us celebrate it. However, the dog
that is celebrated has no slightest idea of what is
being done, because it does not have the ability to
number its days. It just enjoys more food and
goodies on that day, and that is all there is to the
dog.

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Mid-Year Evaluation & Projections

Do not forget that animals are also living things


like humans, and not non-living things. Science
has classified them as living things because they
have all the characteristics of living things.

If you can remember the acronym, MR NIGER


D, back then in your elementary biology class,
you will still recollect all the characteristics of
living things (movement, respiration, nutrition,
irritability, growth, excretion, reproduction and
death).

With all these characteristics of living things,


animals are classified as living things but despite
that, God has not given them the ability to number
their days.

There are other things that God has given to man,


which he has not given to other living things. One
of them is the ability to change his immediate
environment to what suits him, animals do not
have this.

One of the simplest examples of this is when the


weather is hot. Humans can change their
environment by putting on the fan or the air
conditioner to control their surroundings, or by
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SAM. O. SALAU

simply using some sheets of paper or napkins to


fan themself to make the temperature of their
body cooler than that of the environment they
have found themselves.

Likewise, when it is cold, man can put on


specially made clothes to make him feel warmer
or turn on the heat temperature in the house to
warm up the house. but animals do not have this
ability.

God is not one that is known to waste resources. If


God has given man the ability to number their
days and be able to influence their immediate
environment, you should know that it is for a very
important task in their life, a task which other
living things that cannot number their days may
not be required to engage in.

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Mid-Year Evaluation & Projections

Chapter 2

APPLY YOUR
HEART TO WISDOM

So, teach us to number our days, that we may


apply our hearts unto wisdom. Psalms 90:12

T his is why the Psalmist rendered this as a


prayer point in the opening scriptures
above. Beyond just rendering this as a
prayer point, he also made us understand the
purpose for numbering our days in the same
scripture, since God will not bestow on us the
ability for fun.

The Psalmist claims that if we can number our


days, then we should be able to apply our hearts to
wisdom. This, in essence, means that, the main
purpose why God want us to number our days, is
so that we can apply our hearts to wisdom. The
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SAM. O. SALAU

question then is, what does it mean to apply our


hearts to wisdom?

Applying our hearts unto wisdom means that we


have the ability to make meaningful and
reasonable deductions through the numbering of
our past days, so that we can take calculative
steps that will make our coming days more
profitable than the past days.

For example, this is the middle of the year. Six


months are already gone, but there are still six
months to go in this year. If we can number the
past six months and carefully analyze and learn
from it, we can apply the wisdom learnt from this
analysis in the next six months in a way that the
remaining six months will be more productive to
us than the previous ones.

Birthday Celebrations or Wasted Year


So many people have wrongly concluded that
numbering our days is just for the sole purpose of
celebrating birthdays. I beg to differ. No birthday
is worth celebrating if you have only numbered
your days without applying your hearts to
wisdom in the period of time under discussion.

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Mid-Year Evaluation & Projections

Each time I get invited to share a word of


exhortation at a birthday ceremony, I am always
quick to ask what the celebrant is celebrating. I do
not just attend birthday ceremonies because you
are a year older; animals too grow older every
365 and they do not celebrate. The Guinness
World Record of the oldest land animal alive
today in the world is Jonathan, a giant tortoise.
This animal is believed to have been born in
1832, making it 189 years old in 2021. The world
celebrates the tortoise, but it does not even know
it. He cannot even number his days, talk less of
applying his hearts to wisdom. Do not be like this
tortoise!

The only reason I will join to celebrate at people's


birthday parties will be that between the last
birthday and this one, the celebrant has made
some meaningful progress, no matter how little,
or attain some sort of achievements in his life.
The achievement does not have to be something
mega, even if it is little, as long as it is moving the
celebrant in the direction of his major pursuit in
life, then the birthday is worth celebrating.

Celebrating 365 days is not just for being alive


alone, there must be something else, in addition
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SAM. O. SALAU

to the life we are celebrating. If it is just life you


want to celebrate, you can as well celebrate it in
the corner of your room. Kneel down and give
God praise for life! Only you alone. Or better
still, you and your immediate family members.

If you must invite people to a birthday party, it


must not just be because you have numbered your
days. You also must have applied your hearts to
wisdom. The result of such applications may be
significantly noticeable so that all eyes can see, or
it may be relatively negligible so that only you
can notice, but it should still be there! That is
when the celebration is worthwhile.

The ability to number our days is a special ability


that God has given to man so that we can apply
our hearts to wisdom. We are able to evaluate our
past, decide what next to do in the future and
engage productively in it, so that if the past is
inglorious, the future can make up for it, and if the
past is already glorious, the future can become
more glorious. This is what every chapter in this
book is about.

How well can you say you have done this in this
first half of the year!
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Mid-Year Evaluation & Projections

Chapter 3

INFLUENCING YOUR
TOMORROW FROM
TODAY

G
od gave us the ability to number our
days and put our hearts to wisdom so
that we can improve on the condition of
our lives as the days go by, since we are about the
only creature who can number our days and
influence our surrounding significantly.

Taking advantage of this rear privilege that God


has given us will ensure that our tomorrow is
better than yesterday, the following week is better
than the last week, next month is better than the
previous ones, and the new year is more
productive than the outgoing year. This
guarantees, at the end of our journey in life, that
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SAM. O. SALAU

the latter end of our life is the best part of our life.

This, is what a wise man does. He looks at one


passing day, compares it with another passing
day, and at the end of the week, he analyses all the
days and takes calculated and meaningful steps
that will ascertain that the following week will
deliver better results than the previous week.

When you see a man who runs his life like this,
every new week is better than the previous week
and at the end of the first month, the new month is
better than the previous month and at the end of
the year, the new year is better than the previous
year. This is how a wise man plans his days, after
numbering them, that shows that he is applying
his heart to wisdom!

A stupid man on the other hand, may give some


careless attention to the numbering of his day, but
he does not apply his hearts to the wisdom
gathered by the numbering of days. The first
week of the month rolls into the second week, the
second week into the third week and then the
fourth.

By the end of the fourth week, he tells himself,


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Mid-Year Evaluation & Projections

happy new month. He has not analyzed,


investigated or evaluated the previous month to
know what step he would take in the new month
so that he will not repeat the failures of the
previous month. When you see such a man, his
life is stagnated in major areas, because where
there is no constant evaluation, there is no
improvement.

Every student knows that the only factor that puts


student under pressure to study their books in
school is examination, and the teachers also
know. If a teacher wants his students to study
their books well, all he does is to announce that
there will be a test or examination the following
day.

When any student hears this, the textbook that he


has not opened since the beginning of the term, he
runs to start studying it, because it is now the time
of evaluation. The test or the examination is to
evaluate how much of what is taught in school is
learned.

Same goes with life. Numbering your days and


applying your heart to wisdom will help you
evaluate how much of what life has taught you
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SAM. O. SALAU

has really been learnt by you. So, ask yourself,


how have I been living my life? Have I been
evaluating my life on weekly basis or monthly
basis?

Wasted Years
One of my most celebrated quote on social media
this year, with several thousands of views, was a
statement I first made at a Personal Development
Master-Class, “a man who cannot plan his 24
hours will not be able to plan his 365 days and
will waste the whole of the year without
knowing.”

After these words came out of my mouth like a


careless statement, I ruminated over it again
severally because it now became to me a divine
utterance that has been controlling my life. It did
not just affect only me; the whole class took
another dimension with just this statement! You
may want to read it again!

Funny enough, there are so many people who fall


under this category. They do not plan their 24
hours schedule, which makes them unable to plan
their 7 days schedule in advance, and as such do
not also plan their month and then they realize at
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Mid-Year Evaluation & Projections

the end of the year that there was no plan at all for
the year, except for some wishful thinking here
and there, which automatically makes the year a
wasted one.

Every time someone looks at himself or at any


area of his life at the end of a particular year and
complains that he has not achieved anything
meaningful in the outgoing year, such should be
reminded that he did not just find himself in that
condition in an instant. That can only be the
cumulative effort of not achieving anything in
each of the 52 weeks of the year, and that has
trickled down to December.

The conclusion he is trying to make at the end of


the year did not just appear in December. It had
been there all of this while but he intentionally
shut his eyes to it. It started at the beginning of the
year but he was not mindful of it. As the dates
changes on the calendar from the 1st day of
January to the 2nd, and onto the 31st of same
month, then crosses over to the 1st day of
February, on and on, he is able to number the
days, but fails to apply his heart to wisdom that
will save him from the accumulating peril that
awaits him at the end of the year.
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SAM. O. SALAU

The end of the year is a time of sad and painful


realities for such people. They may have shut
their minds during the year, failing to apply their
hearts to wisdom, but they cannot shut their eyes
on the consequences of their actions, which will
always be a very poor performance and may not
go down well with them.

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Mid-Year Evaluation & Projections

Chapter 4

ARM TWISTING
GOD

T he failure of most people to number their


days and apply their hearts to wisdom
thereby is the reason you notice that,
once you get to the eleventh month of the year,
pastors of some churches discovers that some of
their members have really not made any
significant progress at all in the outgoing year,
and, in order to help them, will start organizing
programs with titles like The Eleventh Hour
Miracle, God of The Last Minute, or I Will Not Go
Empty Handed, etc. I am sure you must have seen
flyers like these flying around. If you have not,
look around very well in few months' time; you
will not miss them!

It may sound unharmful to think that such


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SAM. O. SALAU

programs are organized for people that life has


not been fair to from the beginning of the year,
who now need the help of God to make at least
meaningful something out of the remaining few
days of the year so that they will not go out of the
year empty handed, and really, there are several
people in this category, I must admit. They really
need God at such times, due to some very dire
situations they have found themselves, which are
beyond them, and they really need God to deliver
them and give them victory.

However, there are several others who crave for


such programs who are just late comers, who,
having wasted January to December just
counting days without applying their hearts to
wisdom, now think that by putting God under
very intense pressure in such programs at the last
month of the year, they can arm-twist God to do
for them in the last week of the year what they
have not bothered to do for themselves in the 365
days that God made available for them.

Whether God will answer their prayers or not is


not an issue of discussion in this book. That is left
for God to decide, but the point here is that, you
do not have to wait until it is too late to do what
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Mid-Year Evaluation & Projections

you need to do, so you can receive what you


intend to have early enough!

Do You Indeed Need a Miracle?


When you do what you are supposed to do, you
do not need to start searching for miracles here
and there. The blessings of God will naturally
locate you wherever you are, because God will
always bless the works of our hands.

Miracles are needed only when a man is


incapacitated by some forces beyond his control
and cannot do what he is supposed to do. That is
when God shows up for him, not when he
intentionally wastes precious time away, waiting
until it is too late to act, and then starts to call on
God for emergency intervention. Such divine
interventions are not guaranteed, unless mercy
speaks.

This is because, God is not just a Rapid Response


Squad (RRS) waiting to save reckless drivers
from accidents on the express road, he likes to
follow due process. He can break the rules
occasionally, and that is when it is very
necessary! Otherwise, you must follow the right
process to get the right result.
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SAM. O. SALAU

Cast your mind back to when the Israelites left


Egypt and were wandering about in the
wilderness for forty years. They received a whole
lot of the supernatural dealings of God which
they termed as miracles. There was no food to eat
because they had no farmland or plantation of
their own; they were on transit, travelling to the
promised land. So, God himself became their
chef. He rained manna for them from heaven.

When they had no water to drink, God brought


water out of the rock for them. It was easier for
them to dig a well, but they could not have carried
the well everywhere they went. It would have
only been dug in one location and would be
useless to them in the next village they entered,
except if there were thousands of jerrycans to
move the water about, and that comes with its
own challenges too - the people to carry it around.
So, God had to make up for it by providing water
for them each time it was needed and there was no
well or river around. It was on one of these
occasions he had to bring water out of the rock for
them.

They did not have enough money to buy shoes


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Mid-Year Evaluation & Projections

and cloths. God knew that for them to survive in


the wilderness for forty years, they needed
miraculous provision of garments. He provided
another rare miracle for them. God himself
became their fashion designer. Their clothes did
not wear out for forty years; neither did their
shoes spoilt, deteriorated, nor crumbled for forty
years.

God did all these for them because as at that time,


they were incapacitated to do what they needed to
do to earn those blessings themselves. God made
up for them by providing them just the relevant
miracles each time it was needed. This is where
most believers still want to dwell; the place where
every need is met through a spectacular miracle.

Such believers need to be told that, the moment


the Israelites entered the Promised Land where
they had enough land to plant their own
vegetation, the miraculous provision of manna
seized. The best they got was that they inherited
vegetations that they did not plant. This was to
allow them have something to eat in that
particular planting season. After their first season
of harvest, they had to plant what they needed to
eat. Their garments that lasted forty years started
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SAM. O. SALAU

wearing out.

Most of the supernatural miracles experienced in


the wilderness seized when they got to Canaan.
This is because miracles only come when you are
incapacitated to do what you are supposed to do.
Rather than wait till the end of the year before you
start believing God for a miracle, do what you
need to do today and watch if God will not reward
your labor and give to you something bigger than
you really deserve. That, is the real miracle for a
believer.

Most people intentionally incapacitate


themselves by not applying their hearts to
wisdom through numbering of their days, and at
the last minute pressurize God by gathering all
the faith in the world together, channeling it into
trusting God to make happen for them in less than
a month what their faith could not get them in
twelve months of the year put together.

Can God make such happen? Yes, He can. He has


much more powers to do much more than that.
Will God make it happen? Only Him can answer
that. However, I will advise you not to put
yourself in such tight corners!
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Mid-Year Evaluation & Projections

Is it bad to build up your faith at the end of the


year to receive more from God than you have
received from Him all through the year? Of
course not! Everyone wants more. You can
always trust God for more at whatever time of the
year, be it the beginning, middle or the end. But at
whatever time you choose to trust God for more,
do not let it be at the detriment of the necessary
actions you need to take!

This is why some people pray repeatedly, again


and again, requesting for some specific things
from the Lord and they do not receive answers to
it. While they are still praying and trusting God
for the same thing, someone comes along to share
testimony about God's supernatural intervention
that brought them an unusual miracle, a miracle
similar to the one they are trusting God for. At that
point they are quick to challenge God of either
not keeping to His word in their lives or being
slow concerning His promises.

If such are sensitive in the spirit, they will be able


to hear God respond to them that He is not being
partial. It is just that the other person has done all
he needs to do humanly speaking, and just needs a
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SAM. O. SALAU

little push by grace to enjoy supernatural lifting,


while they are still fasting and praying to be
carried on eagle's wings without even doing as
little as lifting their hands to signify their
willingness to be carried. It is all words and no
actions!

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Mid-Year Evaluation & Projections

Chapter 5

MID – YEAR
EVALUATION

T his is the reason for this book, Mid-Year


Evaluation and Projections. Nobody puts
God under pressure at the end of the year,
who has not done as much as putting himself
under pressure all through the year. You cannot be
lackadaisical about life from January to
December, and expect to get from life in
December all what those who took life seriously
in eleven months have gotten, simply because
you know how to pray.

Prayer is not an excuse for you not to do what you


need to do. Prayer does not absolve you of your
responsibilities. Whatever teacher of the word is
painting that kind of impression to you about
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SAM. O. SALAU

prayer is not telling you the complete truth. You


can choose to take what you read here as the real
truth about prayer, or let yourself be deceived.
The choice is totally yours!

Before thinking you have the right to compel God


to do the unusual for you at the end of the year,
you should have done what the Psalmist
recommends, which is to number your days and
apply your hearts to wisdom. This is why it is
good from time to time, but most especially at a
time like this when half of the year is already
gone, that you sit down to access your life,
evaluate your progress, ascertain where you have
gotten to, and identify how much grounds needs
to be covered in the remaining half of the year.

God's word talks about evaluation. It constantly


encourages us to evaluate our lives at different
intervals, especially at critical point that matters.

But let a man examine himself, ... 1 Corinthians


11:28

But let every man prove his own work, and then
shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not
in another. Galatians 6:4
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Mid-Year Evaluation & Projections

Examine yourselves, …; prove your own selves.


Know ye not your own selves, … 2 Corinthians
13:5

This is the end of the first half of the year, and for
people who always number their days and are
willing to apply their hearts to wisdom, it is a
period of personal examination. See the last week
in the month of June, and the first week in the
month of July as the half time in between the first
half of this year and the second half of this year. It
is better and easier for you to do the self-
evaluation at the end of this first half because it
will help you to know your strengths and
weaknesses in order to prepare better in the
second half of the year.

This self-evaluation can be likened to a student


who is studying for an examination and who
needs to memorize at least ten factors that affect
Demand and Supply. After studying, he tries to
examine himself by closing the textbook and
notebook in front of him and trying to see how
many of these ten factors he can recollect from
what he just read, unaided.

40
SAM. O. SALAU

If he succeeds in mentioning seven out of the ten,


he does not relax at that. But he now knows how
much of what he has read he can recollect in the
examination hall and where he needs to improve
upon. He opens the note to go over it one more
time, with more emphasis on the ones he cannot
recollect, and then evaluates again how much he
has retained, repeating the process one more time.

Such a student has done the necessary self-


evaluation that guarantees success in the
examination hall. By the time he gets to the
examination hall and the examiner examines him,
requesting for the ten factors that affects demand
and supply, he is able to list almost all the ten
boldly and effortlessly, because he knows it. He
learned it and examined himself before he is
being examined by the examiner.

On the other hand, the student who has not


evaluated himself may not perform as
outstanding as the one who did on the day of
examination.

Life will examine everyone at some point,


whether you are ready for it or not. The question
is, when life is ready for you to be evaluated, will
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Mid-Year Evaluation & Projections

you be ready for life?

This book is about evaluating ourselves,


especially in the period that just ended, the first
half of this year. This period will cover the last six
months, January to June, if you measure it in
months. It contains 26 weeks, 182 days, 4,368
hours, 262,080 minutes, 15,724,800 seconds,
depending on how you choose to measure it. If six
months sounds so little in your ears to demand an
evaluation, 15,724,800 seconds should really be
big enough to be evaluated.

In the school system, students are evaluated


every sixteen weeks. The lecturer rounds up
teaching for the semester and then gives the
student opportunity to proof how much of they
have been taught they have really learnt by
writing examinations. Six months may look like a
long time for you to evaluate yourself, but it is
better than doing nothing.

In this second part of this book, we will evaluate


our lives and all there is to it in this period.

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SAM. O. SALAU

PART TWO
EVALUATE
YOURSELF

43
Mid-Year Evaluation & Projections

Chapter 6

ITEMIZE YOUR
PROPOSED
EXPECTATIONS

I n evaluating your mid-year progress, the first


thing you do is to itemize your expectations
for the year. At the beginning of every new
year, all reasonable human beings will naturally
have expectations for the year. They may call it
whatever names; it does not make any difference.

Some may call it their plans, goals, aspirations, or


target for the new year. More popularly, some call
it their new year resolutions.

In some spiritual quarters, the name is more


spiritualized, so you can hear things like, 'prayer
points for the year', or 'what you want God to do
44
SAM. O. SALAU

in your life in the new year'. Some of these


spiritual congregants see it as what God needs to
do, as against what they need to do, while some
see it as a cooperative effort between humanity
and divinity.

For some detailed people, these expectations are


written in a diary somewhere, for some, it is on a
note in their cellphones, while for others, it is just
written in one safe corner of their mind. Every
reasonable human being has his own list, kept
somewhere. Wherever yours is, bring out that list.

In every field of endeavor, there is something


used in ascertaining measurements. If you want
to measure length, you will need a tape-rule or a
ruler. If you want to measure weight, you will
probably get a weighing scale. If you want to
measure temperature, a thermometer will be
ideal. There is always a standard way of
measurement. This list you have will stand as a
standard for measuring your progress so far.

While in the secondary school, it was very


common to see some of my classmates argue
about their heights. In other to know who is taller,
we would ask the people in question to stand
45
Mid-Year Evaluation & Projections

beside themselves for us to measure and know


who is really taller. This done, one of the persons
who was thinking that he was taller would realize
after the measurement that of a truth, the other
person is taller than him. This brings an end to
every argument.

There must be a standard to every measurement,


if there is no standard of measurement, someone
can assume that he is making progress when in
the actual fact he has been stagnated, meanwhile,
another can assume he is not, when he is really
moving at an uncontrollable speed.

When you are evaluating yourself, you do not just


do it imaginarily to avoid costly assumptions. Go
to where you have kept your list of expectations
for this year and read through it again to be sure of
what you really wanted at the beginning of the
year. That list, is the standard of measurement of
your progress this year.

This list will contain everything you wished this


year will be for you when you entered into it on
the first day of the year. All your expectations for
the year will be included in this list. This is the
first step in evaluating your progress so far,
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SAM. O. SALAU

itemizing your proposed expectations for the


year.

If your own list is in your heart, it will make sense


to take a sheet of paper and write them down, for
the purpose of this mid-year evaluation. If
writing with pen will be too strenuous, you may
want to type it somewhere you can easily access it
as you read this book, either on your phone or on
your system.

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Mid-Year Evaluation & Projections

Chapter 7

LIST YOUR TOP


ACHIEVEMENTS

N
ow that you have in your hand a
standard means of measuring your
progress so far, the second thing you do
is to ascertain your present level. In the book of 2
Corinthians 11, Paul wrote out the major
advancements he made in his ministry. Moses
also documented the journey of the Israelites as
they moved from place to place. So, what you are
about to do is not against the scriptures!

The reason for defining your present level of


performance is not just to make you feel bad
about yourself that you have not accomplished
much, neither is it to make you feel unreasonably
excited that you have done so well, but to let you
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SAM. O. SALAU

know where you really stand as at today, the


middle of this year.

Therefore, you do not have to amplify the truth,


neither do you have to tell outright lies. No one
will know if you do any of these, but it will not be
in your own best interest. You are not trying to
please anybody. It is your life you are evaluating,
and you are the evaluator, so, do your best to be
very honest yourself.

Six months have gone this year. What progress


have you made. Compile a list of all of them. Do
not leave anyone out.

The accomplishment will cover every area of


your life, including, your
ü academic accomplishments,
ü employment accomplishments,
ü personal accomplishments in the
workplace,
ü training accomplishments,
ü spiritual accomplishments,
ü family accomplishments and
ü community accomplishments.

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Mid-Year Evaluation & Projections

Roles Versus Accomplishments


Please note that this chapter is about your
accomplishments, and not just your duties and
roles. Your role may be that you are the Lead
Human Resource Personnel in a firm, and your
duty includes talent management, compensation
and employee benefits, training and
development, compliance, and workplace safety.
But your accomplishment will be the progress
you have brought to the organization in the period
under discussion.

The questions below will make it easy for you to


compile a reasonable list.
a) What areas did you succeed?
b) What are those things you achieved?
c) What are the advancements you have made?
d) What are those things that worked for you?
e) What were the things that made your head
swell?
f) What things made you give private
thanksgiving to God in the corner of your
room?
g) What things made you give testimony of
God's goodness publicly in a major
gathering?
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SAM. O. SALAU

h) What moments were you really proud of


yourself in the past six months?

These are the things that will be on the second list.


You may want to do this on the same page you
have itemized your expectations for the year, or
you may want to do it on a separate sheet,
whichever is convenient with you. But, do not be
tempted to do it in your head. Ensure that it is
either handwritten somewhere, or typed in a
place you can always access.

Documenting it in a sheet of paper or on a gadget,


as against creating a mental list, will help you to
properly engage more with the facts written
down, and the intellectual challenge which the
process of writing and typing creates, coupled
with the time it takes, will help improve your
critical thinking skills when it is time to start the
actual decision-making process.

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Mid-Year Evaluation & Projections

Chapter 8

ACHIEVEMENTS
AGAINST
EXPECTATIONS

T he third thing to do is to compare your


first list with the second list. This, is to let
you see to what extent you have been able
to accomplish the things on your first list. This is
where the real work is. This, actually, is the real
process of mid-year evaluation, comparing your
achievements in the past six months with your
expectations at the beginning of the year.

What were those expectations that you wrote


down at the beginning of the year? Bring out the
list and place it beside your list of achievements
so far. Now measure the two. How far have you
gone? If this is the middle of the year, at least, you
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SAM. O. SALAU

should have covered up to half of your


expectations.

Take for instance, if your expectation is to have at


least a million naira in your account at the close of
the year, by now, you should have at least half of
that already, which is five hundred thousand
naira, or at least should have created a stable
financial source that can rake in two hundred
naira for you monthly, such that even if you don't
have the half of the money today, you are sure
that, with what is already on ground, you are sure
of meting up with your target.

If you have done this, you already have met up


with your expectations in this aspect and have
done well with yourself. If you have not met up
with this, you may have fallen below your own
expectations, but it does not mean that all hope is
lost. It only means that you need to double your
effort in the remaining six months of the year so
that you can still attain the same expected desire.

It is good you are knowing this now. Some will


not realize this until the eleventh month of the
year!

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Mid-Year Evaluation & Projections

Another example is that of someone who has


promised himself to complete the study of the
Bible from Genesis to Revelation this year, as one
of his projections at the beginning of the year. By
now, you will agree with me that the person
should have completed the Old Testament now.

Even if he is yet to complete the Old Testament,


given that the Old Testament is slightly more
voluminous than the New, he should be nearing
the final books in the testament. If the person is
still in Genesis 20, it is an indicator that he has not
really taken seriously his commitment to the
projections he has for the new year, and will be
disappointed at the end of the year, if he does not
handle this differently from the way he has been
handling them!

If an author has a desire to publish 10 books this


year, by now, he should have done 5 books. If a
blogger projects to write 300 articles on his blog
this year, by now, if he is serious with these
projections, he should have 150 articles. If a
businessperson planned to open 10 new
showrooms for his products this year, by now, he
should have done 5, or at least saved up enough
money to do that soon. Even if your desire is to
54
SAM. O. SALAU

finish eating a whole cow this year, by now you


should have eaten about half of the cow, or else, it
may choke you if you rush to eat it all at once!
This may just be a good place to laugh, but the
calculations are just as simple as that!

In comparing these two lists - projections versus


achievements - you need to be sincere with
yourself. It is the normal human nature to always
want to give excuses for their failures. This is not
the time for that. No one is asking you to defend
yourself yet. This is why you are the one marking
your own script yourself, so that you will not be
under pressure to explain to anyone why you
have not done as much as you should. Quit the
blame game. Focus on what is important.

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Mid-Year Evaluation & Projections

Chapter 9

WHAT NEEDS
IMPROVEMENT?

T he next thing to do is to identify the


places where you need to improve on
your performance. The topic of this
chapter is branded and packaged in such a way as
not to embarrass you.

The real title should have been, 'Know Where


You Have Failed'. But the intention of the author
of this book is not to make you see yourself as a
failure. More so, no one can decide the final score
of the match after the first half, whatever has gone
wrong in the first half can be corrected in the
second half. Hence, the title was changed to what
it is, which sounds better and more encouraging.

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SAM. O. SALAU

If you are sincere with yourself enough, you will


identify three categories in your comparism:

1) The Areas Where You Have Really Done


Well
These areas where you have met your own
expectations and most likely surpassed it. They
are areas where you can confidently give yourself
an excellent mark and not be ashamed to give the
script to someone else to review your marking
scheme because you are sure of what you have
done.

2) The Areas Where You Have Made Some


Progress
These are areas where you can tell yourself, at
least you have done something, although, you
may not have done as much as it is expected of
you. If some other people appraise you in these
areas, they may not agree that you have done
anything significant because the progress you
present is not considerably substantial. However,
only you know what serious effort, time and
sacrifice you have had to engage in the past six
months to accomplish the little success you have
achieved so far. Irrespective of what someone
else think about it, to you, the little success is still
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Mid-Year Evaluation & Projections

worth celebrating, although you admit that you


have not met up with your expectations.

3) The Areas Where You Have Not Made


Any Progress
These are areas where practically nothing, or
something close to nothing has been done,
irrespective of the excuse. You intentionally
made the projections in January because you
really wanted it to happen. You desired it. You
looked forward to starting up, but somewhere
along the line, something you could not explain
happened, and you forgot all about it. It had
crossed your mind once or twice within the past
six months to do something about it, but you had
always postponed active actions to a later date,
and then to another date, and to a more
convenient date, up till today. Your excuses may
be genuine; no time, no funds, no one to help, no
more interested, but whatever the excuse is, you
still have not done anything about it. If there is
any progress made, it is really insignificant. This
is the third stage.

Out of these three stages, the only acceptable one


is the first. You will need to work on the
projections that fall into the other two categories,
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SAM. O. SALAU

bearing in mind that you now have six months to


accomplish what you should have done in 12
months. This means you will need to put in
double of the time, energy and resources you
should have put in if you had started early enough
in the year.

Scan through the list again and identify the


projections that fall into the last two categories.
These are the ones that really need much
attention.

Do not be surprised, there will be people that have


all their projections still in the last category, or
just a few in the second category. If that is the
case, it just means that the first half of the year is
wasted for such people.

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Mid-Year Evaluation & Projections

Chapter 10

REASONS FOR
FAILURE (1)

A
fter you must have identified where you
have not performed up to your own
expectations, do not just stop at that
identification alone, take an extra step to discover
why this has happened.

An adage in Yoruba land when translated will


mean; if a young chap falls while running, he
raises his head and looks forward, but when an
adult falls, he turns his head to look backward.
The young chap is not interested in the cause of
his fall, he is just in a hurry to get to where he
intends, and as such he looks forward to continue
the journey. But an adult knows he needs to deal
with the source of the fall, so as not to repeat the
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SAM. O. SALAU

fall again. So, he looks back to confirm the source


of his fall, to be sure of what tripped him, so that
when next he is passing that route, he will be
more careful, if he cannot eliminate the cause.

What are the reasons for your poor performance


in the first half of the year? What you are about to
do now, most people will not attempt. They will
then get to the last month of the year, December,
and then will look back at the year pitifully,
complaining that the year has not favored them.

What a conclusion! The year did not just start


disfavoring them in December. It started from the
first day of January but they did not realize it till
they got to the end of the year. If they had taken
the step you are about to take now, even if the year
had plans not to favor them, this action, coupled
with their prayers and faith in God, would have
changed their lot for better!

Do not wait till the end of the year before you


begin to access and evaluate these things. Ask
yourself right now, in my pursuit this year, where
have I done less than my expectations? Why have
I delivered less than my ability? What are the
things responsible for the poor performance?
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Mid-Year Evaluation & Projections

At the beginning of every semester, ask any


student what grade he wants to score in any
course. You will not be surprised to discover that
all of them will want an 'A' or at least a 'B'. I am
yet to see any student that will say he can manage
a 'F' or 'D', at the beginning of the semester.

At any point such student discovers he is not


passing as much as he should, the first thing to do
is to query his actions, asking himself, what is the
reason for this failure? This is what it means to
learn from one's failures. When you know the
reasons for your failure, you can learn vital
lessons that will help you to move forward, and
safeguard you from failing again.

In your relational life with people around you,


what is responsible for your failures. Some
people desire to be a better husband or a better
wife to their spouse and have done all the
necessary prayers about it, what remains is to
discover where they need to improve on.

There are some wives, the same thing the


husband has been complaining about in five years
of marriage is still the same thing the man is still
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SAM. O. SALAU

complaining about. She has not yet changed and


she is not ready to change. She feels the man must
understand her and cope with it, accepting her the
way she is. Same also with some men. Do not
wait until life puts you under pressure to change.
Do what you have to do today!

As a business man or an entrepreneur who is into


business, ask yourself if the likely reason you
have not met your expectations for the first half of
the year is your manner of approach to your
business. If you run the business in the remaining
months of the year the same way you ran the
business in the past six months, you will still meet
yourself precisely where you met yourself now.

Do you need to contact new clients? Do you need


to source for new opportunities? Do you need to
update your knowledge base about the business?
Do you need to shift focus from just the shop you
run and invest in online sales? There should be
something you can do differently from the way
you have done it that can take the business to the
next level, go in search of it. That is how to take
advantage of your failures.

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Mid-Year Evaluation & Projections

Chapter 11

REASONS FOR FAILURE (2)

REASONS OR
EXCUSES

I n the last chapter, we started with the


discovery of the reasons for your failure.
This should be a very simple exercise for
everyone. If you fail in any area of life, you most
probably will know why you failed.

It is only in very rare cases that you will need a


consultant to help you search for the reason for
your failure, especially if it is just your personal
life and not just an organizational project.

If you must be honest with yourself, and will take


time to think about it, you will admit with me that
you indeed know why you have not met up with
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SAM. O. SALAU

your own expectations.

Also, note that you are not required to give


excuses for not performing at the level you ought
to. What is needed are the reasons why it has not
been done. Most people will rather give excuses
than present reasons, which is not the purpose of
this book.

It is bad enough that you have not done as well as


you should in the past six months, it is worse if all
you can do now is excuse yourself with flimsy
defenses. It means you are still not ready for
change.

Excuses and reasons may sound alike but they are


different. While a 'Reason' may be considered a
just and realistic explanation for not meeting up
with your proposed targets in six months, an
'Excuse' is a subtle way of justifying or
defending a fault, with an explanation that can be
logically punctured.

In most cases, the one giving a reason admits his


own faults and shortcomings while the one giving
an excuse is only pushing all of the faults and
blames totally on another person or on
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Mid-Year Evaluation & Projections

circumstance, without owning up to his own


failures or being accountable for his own actions.

For example, while an excuse is “my husband and


kids have been too demanding and have not given
me enough time to focus on my Self
Development Online Courses”, a reason will be
“I have not been able to manage my time well
enough to create sufficient time to focus on my
Self Development Online Courses”. The first
pushes the bulk of the blame on her family, but
the second held herself responsible for her
failures.

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SAM. O. SALAU

Chapter 12

REASONS FOR FAILURE (3)

INCONSISTENCY

B y now, you should highlight some of the


reasons why your goals have not been
met. In addition to the reasons you have
penned down, starting from this chapter, I will
discuss some likely reasons why most people
have not met up with their expectations in the
outgoing year.

The first reason most people will not meet up


with their proposed expectation is their
inconsistency.

At the beginning of each year, most people had


their lives planned out. They knew precisely what
they wanted the year to deliver to them. They had
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Mid-Year Evaluation & Projections

their goals well written and had steps laid out to


achieve the goals. The problem is their lack of
consistency in following the well written steps.

Take for example, a greenhorn has a strong desire


in January to become a digital marketer before
the end of the year. He admits he knows next to
nothing about digital marketing and he is willing
to learn. He promises himself at the beginning of
the year to commit to reading one book every
month, reading two online articles every day and
watching five hours of YouTube every week, all
on digital marketing.

This seems like a well-planned strategy to


acquire the needed knowledge without much
stress. The first week, he tries to keep to it, he
starts to read his first book, did two online articles
per day for the seven days in the first week, and
did his five hours of YouTube video learning. The
second week, he tries to keep to the proposed
schedule, but something unexpected happens and
he drops to three hours of YouTube videos, one
online article per day, and just a few pages of the
book.

His momentum begins to drop gradually till then


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SAM. O. SALAU

end of the month. By the end of the second month,


he has totally forgotten there is a schedule to keep
to. Occasionally when he remembers, he
promises himself that he will start all over the
next day and will make up for all the ones he has
missed. Believe me, he is only deceiving himself,
he will not.

This is the reason most people do not get their


expectations fulfilled. Ask yourself, how
consistent have I been with those things I set to
achieve this year?

We had a weighing scale in the office that failed to


work even after changing the battery twice, so I
decided to bring it home so I could test with other
brands of battery before concluding it needed a
repair or a replacement. As I got home and placed
a more expensive battery in it, it came up and
started to work; which implies the battery we
bought in the office was fake.

That was a great news to me, that I would not need


to buy another weighing scale, we only need to
replace with a battery of better quality. But there
is also a not too good news with this; everyone at
home started jumping on the scale to weigh
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Mid-Year Evaluation & Projections

themselves, starting from my wife, then my


children.

After everyone had taken their turn, my first


daughter called upon me to check mine. I secretly
uttered a word of prayer under my breath, “Oh
Lord, let this cup pass over me”. She alongside
with others at home knew it was one of my desires
to reduce my tummy which is beginning to
compete in size with the women in our church
carrying 3 months pregnancy.

At the beginning of the year, it was a major part of


my new year resolution to ensure it is drastically
reduced. I have tried my best to deal with it in my
own ways; I do not eat that much food again (at
least by my own definition), and I have tried
severally to shut my eyes on sugary things around
me (except for bottles of Pepsi and Coke that I am
almost becoming addicted to). I had made use of
the treadmill and press bench at home, (but not
consistently though). I have even faster and
prayed about it (I do not care if you believe me or
not, but I actually fasted), and God kept telling
me “My grace is enough for you” like He told
Apostle Paul.

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SAM. O. SALAU

Deep down in my heart, I knew I had not been


consistent enough in the things I needed to do to
cause a significant drop in my body weight, and
because of this, I was scared to check my weight
in the presence of the whole family members. My
last weight was 96kg at the beginning of the year,
and my goal was to drop to 80kg or less before the
end of the year. This was about four months later.
The call from my daughter to come check my
weight caused my heart to skip a beat, after which
it started beating fast as though I was facing a
panel of judges.

A lot of thoughts ran through my mind. If there is


no reduction in the weight, how do I convince my
children that I lived up to the things I teach others
to do, even in small matters as this, knowing that I
have severally taught consistency to them and
other clients. I told myself I cannot stand this
embarrassment. So, I just told her I was busy.

She asked me the next morning again, being a


Saturday and I was meant to be very free, since it
was family time. I told her I was on the computer
doing something very urgent. Then she came in
the afternoon again. Now getting more agitated, I
asked myself, why is she really bent on knowing
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Mid-Year Evaluation & Projections

my weight? Reluctantly, when I saw that


everyone had gone out and it was just me and her
in the house, I told myself, now is the best time.
Even if it had not reduced, it will be a little secret
between daddy and his and his pretty daughter.

I asked her to bring the scale out, and as I was


about to step on it, I sent her to my room to go
bring my eye glasses. I really did not need the eye
glass, I just wanted to be the first person to see the
figure so that I can prepare an explanation before
she comes back if the figure is not really
encouraging.

I had already prepared all the excuses I would


give to her, like, “you know daddy goes out from
morning till night and does not like to eat outside
the house, so it is only junks (snacks) he feeds on
during the day, and when he comes back late at
night, he takes dinner, which is not too safe for
him at that late hour, and that is why the weight is
increasing, not because he is not committed to his
exercise”.

As I stepped on the scale, the digital screen raced


up close to 100kg then came down, raced up
again above 110kg and finally came down to
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SAM. O. SALAU

settle at 86.4kg. I was so excited. If my target was


to lose 16kg in 12months, and I had done about
10kg in 4 months, I was on a good performance.
Beaming with smiles, I called out to my daughter
to come and see what I am seeing. She was also
happy for me. She hugged daddy. My intention
later was to ask her if my protruding tummy was
embarrassing her, but I decided to let the sleeping
dog lie.

I was scared to check my weight initially because


I was not consistent with the things I needed to do
to keep up with my desire. Your problem also
may be this; lack of consistency!

Inconsistency is the greatest problem of most


people. Your life is shaped by the things you do
every day. Most of the things you need to survive
as human beings on earth are things you
consistently do every day. You eat every day. You
drink water every day. You breathe every day.
You sleep every day. Most of the things you will
also need to excel in any chosen career, are things
you should do every day, or at least do
consistently.

The things you do every day will give you a sense


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Mid-Year Evaluation & Projections

of direction of where your life is going. Some


people will not intentionally engage daily in
positive things that will move their lives forward,
but will unconsciously engage in negative things
consistently and still be hoping and praying that
their lives take a positive turn. What you sow is
what you reap!

The things you consistently do every day, in what


direction is it driving your life? Inconsistency is
one of the major reasons why you will get to
December 31st and discover that life has not been
fair to you because you have not been serious
about life. Deal with it today!

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Chapter 13

REASONS FOR FAILURE (4)

NONCHALANCE

I n the last chapter, we discussed


inconsistency as a major reason people will
find life withholding from them what they
really desire it releases to them. We will be
discussing another major reason for the failure or
disappointment most people have experienced in
the mid-year evaluation they have done.

Some people have a lackadaisical attitude to life.


They may not admit that they are lazy about life,
as this looks like a strong word, but the truth is,
they are too relaxed about life. They are not
pushy. They accept whatever life dumps on them
without challenging it. Whatever comes their
way, they are ready to admit as the best life has to
offer them. They do not desire anything better
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Mid-Year Evaluation & Projections

than they have. They are indifferent to every


thing, whether it has any importance to their lives
or not.

If you drop a leaf on a flowing river, the leave will


submit to the wave of the water. It has no
intention or direction of its own; it flows with the
river. If the river flows right, the leaf goes right
with it. If the river flows left, the leave does the
same. Its motion aligns with the direction of
movement of the water.

Some people's lives are exactly like this: they are


not intentional about their movements.
Anywhere the wind of life blows them, that is
where they are found. If engaged in a particular
line of business or field of endeavor, asked them
why, and you will be told “a friend said I should
do it, that it is good for me”. Is there anything bad
in following the advice of a friend? Of course not,
if you have taking time to establish that the advice
is in your best interest.

Ask him why he is studying the course he is


admitted for in school, and the answer goes like,
“that is what everybody is studying now”, or “that
is what I was offered. I had no choice”. It is never
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SAM. O. SALAU

about what they really desire to do. It is always


about what life dumps on them.

On the other hand, contrary to the experience of


the leave on a flowing river, if you place a ship on
a flowing river, it does not matter the torrent of
the water, the ship intentionally faces its
destination. It has a mind of its own, and will not
be coerced by whatever means to go in a direction
that is not determined. Even if there is a stormy
wind, the captains will fight tooth and nail to
ensure the ship is kept on course, rather than relax
and let the wind take over the direction of the
boat.

This is how all who possess the willpower to


succeed respond to life. Not as one who has no
option, but as one who is created to have
dominion and empowered to take charge in the
world. They are not going to give up easily,
neither are they just going to take a 'no' for an
answer.

They have what is called a 'fighting spirit'; this is


the courage to face fear, the ability to take tough
decision, the willingness to undertake difficult
tasks, and the resilience to bounce back from
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Mid-Year Evaluation & Projections

setbacks and keep going, despite challenges.

Severally, I have met young ladies who feel that,


because they are feminine, life should be a bit
more lenient with them than it does with the guys.
These young ladies are too calm about life. They
are of the opinion that, once they graduate from
school, one rich guy will just appear from the
blues and ask for their hands in marriage, and the
man will resume the responsibility of carrying
their burdens. They will just continue to live life
hazzle-free, stress-free, sleeping and waking up,
and just spending the money the guy is making.

If you ask them to get engaged in something


worthwhile that will add value to their life in the
future, it is as if you are inconveniencing them.
You are asking for too much from them if you
encourage them to take life more seriously. They
forget that life itself, in a way, operates the theory
that says what a man can do, a woman can do
better, and as such will give both sexes equal
opportunity to succeed. Life will not just be
lenient with you because you are feminine, the
earlier you understand this, the better for you.

I was pastoring a Church where over half of the


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SAM. O. SALAU

congregation were youths, and mostly students,


so I decided to add value to their lives by
organizing an 18 weeks seminar for them. The
seminar held on Sundays after service for three
hours each. Experts in various fields were invited
to teach courses like Content Development,
Social Media Management, Email Marketing,
Blogging, Website Design, Mobile App
Development, Graphic Design, Audio and Video
Editing, Software Testing, Microsoft Powerpoint
and Excel, and Quickbook Accounting. They
students were advice to choose any of the courses
they desired to learn.

The seminar was totally free to the students as the


total cost was taken over by the host pastor. All
training materials were given out free and a
Certificate of Attendance was issued to all the
participants. In the cause of the 18 weeks, over
1,000 youths attended the seminar cumulatively
from all parts of Lagos. Quite a number of adults,
some even in their late 50s, attended consistently
too. One of my wife's friends, a practicing
medical doctor with 15years post training
experience and who owns his own hospital, drove
two hours all the way from the outskirts of Lagos
to attend the program several days. Numerous
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Mid-Year Evaluation & Projections

youths from several other denominations came


from all over Lagos to attend the training. Even
three young Muslim ladies with their hijab on
their head, apart from other Muslim young men,
attended the courses.

The sad truth is that, 99% of the people that


attended were from outside the church. Only two
youths from the host church, for whom the
program was initially organized, took part in the
seminar. What a lackadaisical attitude to life!
Values were brought to them right under their
nose, and they refused to take advantage of it.
This is exactly why the Bible will say, many are
called, but few are chosen.

What differentiated Apostle Paul from the other


Apostles was his fighting spirit. After
accomplishing such a great feat of taking the
gospel round the known world in his days, he still
challenged himself to do more;

Brethren, I count not myself to have


apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting
those things which are behind, and reaching forth
unto those things which are before. I press toward
the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in
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Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:13-14

If Paul could say this with all of his recorded


achievements, that means some of us who think
we have tried in this first half of the year have not
started at all.

Of a major importance to me is the phrase the


Apostle used in the quoted verse above, 'reaching
forth unto'. If you are trying to 'reach forth' unto
something, it gives me an impression that the
particular object is not easily within your reach
and you have to 'stretch' yourself to lay your
hands on it.

Reaching forth will require stretching. Stretching


will infer dispensing energy. Dispensing energy
will imply inconveniencing yourself. That is how
it is done. You will need to inconvenience
yourself to achieve what will make life
convenient for you.

Nothing comes easy in life. Ask yourself; what


are you reaching forth to? What are you
stretching yourself to acquire? What are you
spending your energy on? What are you
inconveniencing yourself for?
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Mid-Year Evaluation & Projections

Accomplishing great feats is not just about


desires and wishes. There is a popular saying, “if
wishes were horses, beggars will ride”, but no
beggar has ever ridden a horse before, because it
is not gotten by wishes alone. Go beyond wishing
for a successful life; do something to make it
happen.

Make every second of your life count. If you are


still in your teens, twenties, or early thirties, this
is the time for you to push. You still have enough
energy to push with all vigor. You will soon
become an oldie and you will not have the same
energy to push again. Then you can become more
relaxed, but not now. That is the time for your
relaxation; this is the time for you to push.

The relaxation that some youths should have


when they are aged and physically weak, they
choose to have it now that they are still very
strong. If you spend quality time to rest when you
should work, when the time comes for you to rest,
then you will be forced to beg for work to do to
survive. The hard labor you should have done
when you have the energy to, but refused to do,
you will be forced to do when there is no energy
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to do it, because you will need it to survive.

This is why you see some people in their old age,


after retiring from their job (that is if they have
any), they begin to look for other menial jobs to
do to keep life and soul together. The time they
should have added more values to themselves by
constantly acquiring skills that will be relevant to
the future and updating themselves, they chose to
enjoy life with their dispirited attitude, hoping
that when they get to the bridge, they will cross it.
They have finally gotten to the bridge, and are
crossing it in a very tedious way. Do not repeat
the mistakes of those who are regretting today
their actions yesterday, or else you also will end
up regretting tomorrow your actions today.

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Mid-Year Evaluation & Projections

Chapter 14

REASONS FOR FAILURE (5)

OVER-DEPENDENCY
ON GOD

M an cannot survive outside God. Our


dependency is totally on Him,
because, in the words of the
scriptures, in Him we live, and move, and have
our being (Acts 17:28). This shows how
important it is to put our trust in Him because
those who put their trust in Him will not be
ashamed.

As good as it is to trust and depend on God, God


also has given man the responsibility to take
actions that will guarantee that his trust in Him
yields positive results, and is not just counted as
vanity. When man refuses to take these actions, it

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is seen as over-dependency on God.

For everything man desires to receive of God,


there is something for man to do, and there is
something for God to do to make it happen. It is
not all about God alone. It is a dual responsibility
of both man and God; God's super will descend
upon man's natural, to make it a supernatural act.

What God needs to do, only Him can do it; no


man can, no matter how much he tries. What man
needs to do, man can do and God can also do, but
God will not do. The problem here is, God will
not do what He needs to do until man has done
what he needs to do.

For clarity sake, consider the situation when


Lazarus died and Jesus was invited supposedly to
commiserate with them but he came after four
days to display the supernatural act of God. To
kick start this supernatural act, He told them to
roll away the stone. Jesus, could have rolled away
the stone if he wanted to. All he needed to do was
to call upon the angels in heaven and the job will
be done; at least they did it when he rose from the
dead.

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Mid-Year Evaluation & Projections

However, rolling away the stone, was what man


could do, and God will not interfere with that.
God's part was to bring Lazarus back to life,
something that no man can endeavor. But until
man rolled away the stone, Jesus did not raise
Lazarus from the dead.

If the people had come together, to plead with


Jesus to just complete the miracle by rolling away
the stone, so that He alone can take all the glory,
without allowing man to share of it. He would
have laughed at them and see them as lazy
hypocrites. His reply to them will still be, roll
away the stone. How many times do we pray such
prayers on our kneels, asking God to do
everything for us, because we really depend on
Him? God's answers to such prayers will still
remain, roll away the stone first!

Some of the things man is trusting God for, God is


ready to do, but the delay is from man because
man has not done his part. Some believers have
fasted and prayed enough, their prayers have
received the urgent attention of heaven, and God
is ready to move things for their sake, He is just
waiting for them to do what they need to do, to
roll away the stone.
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Whatever it is you need to do, for God to do what


He needs to do, that is your own stone that needs
to be rolled away. Do your best to ensure that you
roll away your own stone, and watch if God will
not bring you Lazarus back to life!

Paul made this very clear when he wrote this;

For I am the least of the apostles, that am not


meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted
the church of God. But by the grace of God, I am
what I am: and his grace which was bestowed
upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more
abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace
of God which was with me. 1 Corinthians 15:9-10

Everything that happened in the life of Apostle


Paul, from the first statement in the scripture
above, was by grace. By the grace of God, he was
all that he was, he openly admitted. He was really
graced, to such an unusual level. His was a grace
to be coveted by all men, not just those in his
days, even by those in this contemporary age.

If you just read this scripture and stop at that


verse, you may be misled by quoting Paul out of
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Mid-Year Evaluation & Projections

context on the issue of grace. You may be


deceived into thinking that everything that
happened in the life of Paul was just limited to the
operations of the grace of God upon his life,
which will leave you to no option than to forsake
all and begin to covet such grace. The next verse
explained what qualified Apostle Paul for such
unusual grace, his unusual labor. He said he
labored. Although there was grace for him to
enjoy, but there was also serious labor too for him
to do. Unusual grace did not just jump on hm; he
labored more than them all!

Some of us have a very wrong perspective of


grace. We feel grace and labor are too parallel
lines that never meet. We think, once a man
receives grace he does not need to labor again,
that only people without grace labor. That is over-
dependency on God. We leave all that we are
meant to do, which is our labor, and solely depend
on the grace of God. Paul says that is not right. He
says grace and labor works hand in hand.

Imagine if there are three students studying the


same course in the same school, sitting in the
same class, taught by the same lecturer, under the
same condition of temperature and pressure, and
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SAM. O. SALAU

the four of them attend the same church together,


pray together and are about to write the same
exam. The first one starts studying for the exam
about two months before the exam and has read
the class note and textbooks about 25 times.

The second starts studying for the exam about


one month before the exam and has read the class
note and textbooks about 10 times. The third one
just picks the note to read on the morning of the
exam and crammed it just once, but has been
praying for grace from the Holy spirit to pass in
such exams, anointing himself with oil, with the
prayer mantle tied around his neck while writing
the exams, and a biro he has even taken to the
pastor to bless and anoint before going into the
exam hall.

Which of them will succeed more in the exam?


The one who labored more will enjoy more of
God's grace than the one who labored less. So, it
seems to me that, that the level of grace you enjoy,
is determined by the level of labor you are ready
to give. A religious mind will want to attack it, but
this is exactly what Paul says above.

Each time you see a man whose life is better than


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Mid-Year Evaluation & Projections

yours, of a fact, there is an unusual amount of


grace that is working in such life, but do not be too
quick to assume it is only grace that is working,
ask for his labors before running to hasty
conclusions. It is always grace working in
combination with his labors.

Some people are just very lazy, they expect God


to send manna from heaven to them, then also
expect him to send an angel to gather the manna
in a bowl for them. They still need him to send
another angel to serve the manna on their dining
tables at home, and yet another angel that will
spoon-feed them, while another opens their
mouth so that the manna can drop right in the
opened mouth. All they want to do is just chew
and swallow the manna, that is if there is no angel
available to make that possible for them. It does
not work like that.

You might ask, is it not good to depend on God?


Of course not! It is very good to depend on God
totally, but beyond your dependency on God,
what else are you doing? God also is depending
on you, to make your dependency on Him work
out in your favor!

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Chapter 15

A COMMITMENT
TO AMENDMENT

M any people claim they strongly desire


a great change in their lives but they
are not ready to pay the necessary
price needed for the change to take place. They
want a better life but do not want to be committed
to anything different from what they are doing to
get the better life. If your life must change for the
better you must be ready to give it what it takes.

So many go to church every Sunday and they


listen to the word of God, but the word does not
reflect in their lives, not because the word is not
effective enough to create a transformation in
their situation, but because they are not
committed to that which they hear. Same attitude
they apply to every area of their lives. God sends
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Mid-Year Evaluation & Projections

instructions to them on daily basis, from the


church altar and from some mentors in their life,
they hear but do not do anything about it.

They get sober when listening to it, but


immediately after they have listened, give them
few minutes, everything they hear is gone. They
are not committed to making amendments in their
lives.

Life is about improving yourself on a daily basis


and developing yourself in order to become much
better than you were before. If there is no constant
development in one's life, be it weekly or
monthly, you are preparing yourself for a major
failure in life.

This is the whole essence of the Mid-Year


Evaluations and Projections; to help you know
which area of your life you need to improve upon
so that you can achieve all of your desired
projections and your life can become better than
it presently is. This cannot happen without your
own commitment to personal development. Any
self-evaluation that does not lead to personal
development is a wasted enterprise and not worth
the time.
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Do not join the league of lazy believers who


naturally tend to avoid personal improvement but
still expect God to do all that He has promised in
their lives simply because they are His children
and have taken time to pray to Him. Even if
mercy speaks for them, and grace makes
opportunities available to them, there is still a
limit to how far they can get to, until they have
developed themselves for such opportunities.

Before you conclude this is heresy, think well


about it. If your destiny from heaven is to become
the president of World Bank, and God is willing
to help you achieve it, but all you have is a
Primary School certificate, it will cost God so
much to ensure such destiny is fulfilled if you are
not going to develop yourself beyond the primary
school certificate. If at all it happens, it will be a
very strange and an unusual miracle, one that
cannot stand the test of time.

God will rather prefer to support someone else


who has the required certificate, qualifications,
and experience. You have not developed yourself
enough to the level of obtaining the necessary
requirements, and as such, it would take a lot to
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Mid-Year Evaluation & Projections

convince others to accept you, no matter how


much prayers you have prayed. This example is
to prove to you that people who avoid
opportunities for improvement do not get much
in life.

If you have not added any virtue to your life in


any area in the past six months, you have already
wasted six months of your destiny away. There is
nothing called 'luck', every 'luck' involves a
tedious and an intentional effort by the person.
Most of the time, you do not see the sacrifices
made, all you see is the blessings, the final
product of the invested effort, and you called it
luck.

This is why a lot of people do not make progress


in life; there is no intentional effort to make sure
their life is making constant progress, although
they may be making movements. There is a
difference between making movements and
making progress. The man moving in a circular
spot may be making movements, but he is not
advancing. To make progress, there is a
calculated intentional effort to reach a particular
desire or goal and every step taken is to
accomplish that desired goal.
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So, knowing where you have failed in the first


half of the year, (I tried to avoid using the word
failed, but no matter how much I tried, it keeps
popping up, permit me to use it here again
please), and having identified the reasons for
such failures, what commitment do you need to
make to ensure that you do not fail in these areas
again at the end of the year.

Your failure in these areas today is not


significant. There is still room for a better
performance. However, your failure at the end of
the year may really affect your life in a way you
can not imagine. This is why you need to make a
new commitment now about what you need to do
differently.

Some students reading this today are aware that,


the course they are studying in school is not what
they really desire to study. They were just forced
to do this by life, and have no desire to build a
future through this course. They also know that,
although they are in school, their course of study
will not be able to put food on their table when
they graduate. They are only studying this course
because they do not want to sit at home for an
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Mid-Year Evaluation & Projections

extra year. These ones already are aware that they


will not be able to live the life they envision for
themselves after graduation with the certificate
they will be awarded in this course.

With this knowledge, you will expect that such


students will start preparing for life after school
now, by adding to their lives vital skills that will
augment whatever salary that comes from
whichever job they get with the certificate gotten
from school. It will surprise you to know that
most of these students are not bothered about this.
Some have spent two to three years studying that
course and within these periods have not added
anything meaningful to their life. They live life to
their fullest, enjoying every moment as a student,
and waiting for life to treat them well when that
time comes.

Things are not done that way. Life is like a bull;


you need to hold it by the horn to take charge of it.
A great man once said, life will not give you what
you desire but what you demand from it, and it
takes qualifying for it to demand for it.

If you have not added the required skill to


yourself, you cannot place a demand on what you
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SAM. O. SALAU

want out of life. No matter how much you scream


what you desire, life will fold its hand and watch
you enjoy whatever it throws at you. You will just
become like a beggar in life, and a beggar, as they
say, has no choice. However, the moment you
begin to add the necessary skills to yourself,
taking the required actions, you will place a
serious demand on life, and will be willing to
attend to you, because you are now ready to face
life the way it is.

Look beyond such certificates that you do not


have hope in and build yourself up by acquiring
relevant skills, get certifications, taking every
required action to make yourself relevant to your
own future. Otherwise, you are creating a
platform of failure for yourself in the future.

What can God see in me that will qualify me for


the next level? Every one that God used to
accomplish something significant in the Bible
were up and doing, and not just people sitting idle
and whiling away the time. Everybody who made
impact in some areas of their life were not just
onlookers in the field of life. All of them had
something doing which they could really do well,
and God took advantage of their expertise in what
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Mid-Year Evaluation & Projections

they know how to do to promote them to the next


level and announce them to the world.

When it was time for David to get into the palace,


God needed an easy entrance for David. He
searched David's life for what will qualify David
for a slot in the palace and saw that he could play
harp. God then created a scene in the palace
where the king desperately needed someone to
play harp in the palace. That was how David
gained an entrance into the palace. An easy
entrance, you may assume, but it needed an effort
from David, the ability to play harp skillfully!

Imagine if David had no special ability that God


could use at that time; he might have lost a special
privilege. When it was time to bring Goliath
down, what brought David the achievement was
his ability to throw sling and stone. If he did not
develop those skills in his days of small
beginnings, we may not hear of Kind David
today. Someone else would have taken his
prophetic place in destiny!

You also may be toying with some opportunities


and privileges today, not knowing at what point in
the future that God may need the particular talent
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or gifting you have not taken serious today, to


qualify you for bigger destiny opportunities in the
future. At such time, it will be too late to start
developing yourself.

Ask yourself, if God wants to take you to the


palace today, what ability is in your life that you
have committed to and developed to the level that
can qualify you to perform in the palace? If none,
then it will be difficult for God to get you into the
palace. This is why some of your prayers cannot
be answered.

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Chapter 16

A NEW PLAN
OF ACTION

A
s I bring this book to a close in this
chapter, if you discover that, after
evaluating your written down goals
against your achieved goals, you have not met up
with your own expectations at this half time of the
year, I will advise that you need to create new
plans of action.

In creating a new plan of action, the best way to


go about it at this stage is to appraise your
methods, processes, techniques, and systems to
determine three things:

a. What to keep doing


These are what you have been doing that have
worked for you and you need to continue. They
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have worked in the past six months, and there is a


very high tendency that they will still work in the
next six months. These things are responsible for
the successes you have recorded in the areas
where you have succeeded. No one changes a
winning team, so you can not abandon them.

Do not just put anything on this list simply


because it is something you really like doing. It is
not about what you like doing, it is about what
worked for you. It is even possible that what you
like doing is not what you really need to do, or
worse still, it may be what you desperately need
to stop doing! You need to be sure, by whatever
metric employed, that the things on this list really
worked in the past, and will still work in the
future.

What you love doing may be killing you.


Ascertain that what you want to put on this list are
things that you have been doing and you really
need to continue doing in the interest of your
projections, so that at the end of the year, your
performance will be better than it is at this middle
of the year.

To make it easy for you, you may want to ask


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yourself the following questions:


· In what positive ways has this action
contributed to the success of my goals?
· Are these contributions strong enough to earn
this action a place on this list?
· If I eventually choose not to include this action
on this list, what will I miss at the end of the
year?
· Are there other actions I am presently engaged
in that can contribute the same effects which
will cost me less time and energy?
· Do I have any selfish attachment to this
action?
These questions above will help you know what
to continue doing.

b. What to stop doing


You will also need to identify what you need to
stop doing. Some of these factors you have
identified in a previous chapter. They are the
things responsible for your poor performance in
the past six months, and if you want to be sincere
with yourself, allowing them room in your life in
the next six months will make you record the
same result in December that you are reporting
now.

102
SAM. O. SALAU

If your performance level must be better in


December, there are some things that must
naturally break off you. They are burdens that
must drop off you to make the journey of a great
performance in December easy for you.

c. What to start doing


Every time a farmer weeds the ground, he plants
some seeds on it. If he fails to plant anything, the
ground itself will bring out weeds that will not be
beneficial to him.

You have made up your mind to stop doing some


things, you need to replace those things with
some other things. If you do not, you will not
know when you will unconsciously slide back
into your former self.

Think of new attitude you need to imbibe,


strategies you need to culture, relationship you
need to groom, trainings you need to attend,
books you need to read, videos you need to
watch, skills you need to acquire, opportunities
you need to take advantage of, professionals you
need to connect with, or just anything you have
not been doing before that you need to start
doing!
103
Mid-Year Evaluation & Projections

You can not just rely on what you have been doing
before if you want a different result at the end of
the year. It is the new things you start doing that
will guarantee that you will have a better result at
the end of the year.

As you do what you need to do, your performance


at the end of this year will surprise even you!

See you at the end of the year!

104
SAM. O. SALAU

105
Mid-Year Evaluation & Projections

106
SAM. O. SALAU

107
Mid-Year Evaluation & Projections

108
SAM. O. SALAU

109
Mid-Year Evaluation & Projections

Have You Heard About This!

110
SAM. O. SALAU

LIST OF BOOKS WRITTEN


BY SAM O SALAU
∙ FOR STUDENTS
1. Make Money While In School
2. Secret Of Successful Students
3. Academic & Your Spiritual Life
4. Powerful Prayer Points For All Students
5. Boost Your G. P.
6. Handling Academic Failure
7. Letter To All Secondary School Graduates
8. Jambite; What Every Fresher Needs To Know

∙ FOR FRESH GRADUATES


9. Look Beyond School, You Will Soon Be A Graduate
10. Living A 1st Class Life With A 3rd Class Degree

∙ RELATIONSHIPS
11. Beauty Of Virginity
12. Dating On Campus
13. HELP! Am I Really FALLING IN LOVE?

∙ CHRISTIAN LIFE
14. Spread Your Faith: Evangelising Your Communities For Christ
15. Lights Of The World - 7 Types Of Christians On Earth
16. Boost Your Faith: 5 Keys To Spiritual Growth
17. Catalysts and Hindrances To Prayer

∙ MINISTRY
18. Running A Successful Youth Ministry
19. Challenges Of Pastor's Kids

∙ PARENTING
20. Raising Godly Teens In An Ungodly World
21. Parenting 21st Century Teens

∙ AUTHORS
22. Becoming A Best-Selling Author

∙ BOOKLETS
23. Why Brilliant Students Fail
24. Getting The Best Of Your Lectures
111
25. Getting The Best Of Your Personal Study
26. Basic Learning Techniques - How To Remember What
You Are Taught
27. Handling Examinations
28. The Real Student And His Academics
29. The Real Christian And His Spiritual Life
30. The Real Christian Student And His Social Life
31. Academic Excellence For Christian Students
32. Easy Ways To Make Money On Campus
33. Challenges Of Making Money On Campus
34. Managing Your Meager Pocket Money On Campus
35. Students And Investment Opportunities
36. Balancing Financial Life And Academics As A Student
37. Influencing Your Academic Result Positively
38. Active Concentration In Class For Better Results
39. Engaging In Productive Personal Study Sessions
40. Time Management For Students
41. Effective Student's Network
42. Living A Balanced Life As A Student
43. Involving The Supernatural In Your Academic Pursuit
44. Meeting The Needs Of The Youths
45. Responsibilities Of The Ideal Youth Leader
46. Qualities Of A Great Youth Leader
47. Building A Sound Workforce In Your Youth Group
48. Communicating Your Vision To Your Youth
49. Delegating Responsibility In A Youth Ministry
50. Handling Criticisms In A Youth Ministry
51. Conflict Management Skills In A Youth Ministry
52. Making Maximum Impact In A Youth Ministry
53. Effecting A Change In A Youth Ministry
54. Solving The Compatibility Issues In Relationship
55. Laugh For God's Sake (1)
56. Laugh For God's Sake (2)
57. Words On Marble (1)
58. Words On Marble (1)
59. The Nude Lady & The Free Gift - A Short Story
Mid-Year Evaluation & Projections

S am O Salau is a Personal Development Coach who


works with clients in order to develop strategies to
build human capital and improve their individual
life, thereby improving the quality of service which they
deliver to their respective organizations and creating
more values.
He is an exceptional communicator who is
compassionate about the young leaders and deeply
committed to their growth, equipping them with the
knowledge, practical skills and motivation to carry out
their work activities effectively, thereby building the
necessary foundation to make them relevant in
the future both to themselves and the society at
large.
He is a strategist who helps forward-
looking organizations align its long term
corporate objectives with organizational
capability development initiatives by builds
training programmes from scratch (from the
initial idea through planning,
implementation, review and outcomes
analysis) for his clients. His clientele cuts
across different spheres of the economy.
An author of over 25
published books, with the best-
selling title “Secrets of
Successful Students” sold over
150,000 copies, Sam O Salau
currently mentors thousands
of students, youths, and
young adults in and around
the country. He studied
Mechanical Engineering
in Unilag, and is currently
a fellow of CMI.

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